The work that I was nominated for
was a film called 'It for Others'.
I mean the film is basically about objects
it's about how you can understand certain histories through objects.
It was really inspired by a film that Chris Marker and Alain Resnais made in 1953
called 'Les Statues meurent aussi'
which is about traditional art from West Africa.
They linked the death of purpose of the objects
that they film
with their commercialisation and consumption by the colonial classes at the time.
The film that I have made is quite episodic.
Value or ideas about value is a thread that runs through each of the section.
This is syrup
ketchup.
The filmmakers would like us to feel the sensation of being seen.
African Art.
We look at it as if it exists for the pleasure it gives us.
The first part of the film responds to Chris Marker and Alain Resnais' film.
We wanted to go to the British Museum
and re-film the exact objects that had appeared in 'Statues Also Die'.
We didn’t get permission to do that
so we had to come up with some other way of doing it
and filming, kind of, replica objects
because there is a whole, kind of, industry of producing replicas.
There’s other parts of the film, which were also shot
in here, which were, kind of, the opposite.
We were more looking at
the way certain languages advertisement
and the way commodities are filmed.
There’s a section that deals with this image
official IRA volunteer called Joseph McCann.
So I’m attracted to certain histories or certain stories
certain individuals sitting through watching a lot of archival material.
You do become aware of, that this isn’t some, kind of, transparent window onto reality.
What’s contained in these archives is actually highly constructed and partial.
There’s all sorts of gaps and lapses and even, kind of, prejudices against certain subjects.
The histories are very important but I also think it’s very important to look at how those
histories are constructed as well.
I mean I guess it’s an essay film.
It was always intended to be an essay film.
It’s a moment in thought as opposed to being some kind of, conclusion.
It’s, kind of, open-ended.